The Father Is With You

The Gift of Belonging

I remember as a child playing with other kids. We would create clubs. We would have certain places to play and no one could come in unless they knew the password. To us it was great fun, but not to the one being left out.

One day there was a boy who wanted to come and play with us girls. We had already decided that this recess our group was “girls only.” When we told him he couldn’t come in, he began to cry. We immediately saw the error of our ways and surrounded him, telling him we were sorry and we would play with him.

I have never forgotten that moment, nor the words he spoke, telling of his pain of being rejected, left out. We have all experienced rejection at times. But it is good to know when we make Jesus the Lord of our life, he will never reject us (Psalm 94:14). In fact, if we go the way we shouldn’t, he will run after us (Matthew 18:12).

The only requirement Jesus has is to turn our hearts towards him and call on him as Lord (Rom 10:13). When we surrender our hearts to him he will do the work (Phil 1:6). There are no hoops to jump through. There is no certain way to dress. There are none that can’t call on his name, no sin too great, no mess too big. The gift of belonging in His kingdom is just that, a gift from him.

In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost (Mat 18:14 NIV).